Jake Weston

Contrary to what many believe, it is possible to produce great sound to accompany your video, even on a budget! It really comes down to getting a mic close to your mouth somehow. My article and video – Sound For Video: How To Get Good Audio On Your Videos takes you through a couple of good ways to do this.

Below is another take from Premium Beat on some ways to get great audio on your videos.
If you’re making a short film on a shoestring budget with only $100 to spend on audio, they recommend you go with the Audio-Technica ATR-6550 Shotgun Microphone for $68, or the Audio-Technica ATR-3350IS Omnidirectional Condenser Lavalier Mic with Smartphone Adapter for $30. The beauty of this lavalier mic is that it is wired so that you can connect it to your smart phone and/or camera when recording and producing interviews.
If you have more money to spend, look at the Zoom H4nSP 4-Channel Recorder for $159 and the Rode VideoMic Shotgun Condenser Microphone with Boom Pole and Adaptor for $159. You can’t go wrong with Rode equipment, a well-known player in the film-making industry.

Key Takeaways:

• If you think you can only have great quality sound by busting your audio budget, you are misinformed!
• You can achieve great quality sound with a budget of under $100, starting with Audio-Technica microphones and your smart phone.
• If you have more than $100 to spend, look at Rode equipment, since it’s a very well-respected name in the audio and video recording industry.

“I’ve seen countless films that were cinematically excellent, but bad sound completely kicked me out.”

Read more: https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/getting-good-sound-every-budget/

Even skilled musicians often forget about the versatility and potential of preamps in building up their sound. However, these important tools are something that every musician should focus on. For those who want to add some preamps to their repertoire, consider the new package “3 Preamps You'll Actually Use” (that's the name of the product!) from Arturia. This is a set of – surprise, 3 – preamps which are based off of classic hardware setups, digitized for the modern era.

Key Takeaways:

• Many musicians think about the power of preamps to really take their sound to the next level.
• However, they're making an error in doing so – and if you want to remedy that error, this new product from Arturia is a great option.
• This humorously titled offering replicates some of the great preamps of yesteryear, all in crisp digital glory.

“Arturia’s catchily-titled 3 Preamps You’ll Actually Use is a bundle of modelled versions of classic preamps from various hardware consoles.”

Read more: https://ask.audio/articles/review-arturia-3-preamps-youll-actually-use

Interested in a new footswitch setup for your gigs? Try out this new offering from Nektar Technology. This compact and robust MIDI and DAW footswitch controller features a whopping setup of 10 different programmable switches, as well as a single standard preset switch. This allows you to have all the effects you could ever desire at the tap of a foot. Plus, with a host of different input and output jacks, it'll be compatible with all of your gear.

Key Takeaways:

• Interested in upping your stage game? If so, then check out this new foot pedal ensemble from Nektar.
• This nifty little rig contains one preset pedal, plus 10 more that you can program as you see fit.
• In addition, it contains a whole host of input and output jacks to ensure compatibility with all of your gear.

“Even non-MIDI amps can be integrated into setups by using the 4 relays to switch channels or effects. Due to dedicated presets and icons for transport and track control as well as eg. MIDI LED feedback for MIDI CC messages, the pedal’s handling is fast and transparent.”

Read more: https://ask.audio/articles/nektar-technology-announces-pacer-daw-midi-footswitch-controller

Justin Perkins, of Pro Audio Files, likes to caution mastering engineers away from allowing peak levels to reach 0 DBFS. Beyond that, he feels that the commonly shared wisdom, suggesting peaks of -6, or – 3 db are being overly cautious and also harking back to a time period when sound equipment was quite primitive, relative to today's technology, when it made good sense to have a definite limit in place.
With today's far superior equipment, Perkins says he rarely gets overly excited about the peak levels, unless it gets to 0, or unless he's dealing with analogue equipment. He also advocates not using a limiter, or a plugin that prevents peaks that would otherwise reach or clio 0 dBFS.

Key Takeaways:

• Justin Perkins of Pro Audio Files admonishes mixing engineers not to let peak levels get to 0 dBFS.
• That also suggests that the oft-shared advice to keep peak levels at -6 or -3 dB are too arbitrary, harking back to a time when equipment ability was sub par.
• Perkins says, with today's superior equipment, he rarely worries about peak levels, unless the get to 0, or unless he is using analogue equipment.

“Not a week goes by where I see somebody on a forum or Facebook group asking about how much headroom to leave on a mix for the mastering engineer. Then comes the flood of varying responses”

Read more: https://theproaudiofiles.com/6-db-headroom-mastering-myth-explained/

The latest PMC monitors are a tad pricey, no doubt. Nonetheless, they are surprisingly more affordable than their predecessors. Result6 monitors, from PMC, have earned the musicTech excellence award, as well as blogger Andy Jones's respect, as a piece o equipment that stands up to its predecessors and merits the extra cheddar, because they are well-built and they deliver a clean, sound, with a lot of integrity and detail.
The result6 has lots of nifty features that help it to produce its extended bass sound from its relatively small box, including a soft dome tweeter (affording ultra-high resolution with a neutral balance) and a perforated acoustic lens, an active transmission line vent, allowing for an extended bass response, with lower levels of distortion, and a midrange/bass driver, which allows for control of the bass response even at extremely low output levels.

Key Takeaways:

• Looking for a new studio monitor that won't break the bank? Check out these PMC result6 monitors.
• At about 2400 Pounds Sterling, they're surprisingly affordable to studio owners and producers.
• And, even at that price point, the performance is phenomenal across the entire spectrum.

“Those new result6 monitors, you see – and the ones I have on test here – are PMC’s lowest priced monitors ever.”

Read more: http://www.musictech.net/2018/02/pmc-result6-review/